First world problematic decisions

One of the reasons I’ve been somewhat lax in my posting schedule recently is that I was wrestling with a career decision. Since it was occupying my mind, it was something of a struggle thinking of blog posts to write. And well – career decision. I couldn’t exactly post about it publicly.

This week, I did finally make a decision, which I’m pretty much sure means I now get to talk about it.

So – I’m relatively happy in my current job. I’m well set to progress up the career ladder, with some plans in that direction being mentioned to me. The work is fulfilling. I’m treated very well. So, it would take something pretty major to make me turn my head to another job.

Well, that happened. I was approached by a former awesome manager about a role in another company. At first, I did it due service – I checked it out, thinking that I most likely wouldn’t jump ship because I am happy where I am.

What followed was a few weeks of flip flopping in my head. Current company is large, and has the issues that you will get working for any large company – that feeling of being a small cog in a very impressive machine. The other role is at a smaller company, meaning that anyone invited to work there will definitely have the feeling of making a difference.

In terms of problems, this has been a rather nice one to have. It’s certainly not a situation I’ve been in before, and likely won’t be again!

A lot of my own personal satisfaction comes from feeling like I’m actually relevant. Which speaks volumes about my ego. I spent a long few weeks writing up pros and cons for both jobs. It was ultimately a narrow thing. I didn’t discuss the problem with my current workplace, as this was not a decision driven by money – I wanted to avoid a situation of offers and counter offers. Some people will probably see me as somewhat crazy for going with that approach, but my own self image means I’m not going to behave like a complete mercenary.

As you can probably guess if you’ve read this far, I’ve opted to jump ship. I’m happy with my decision, and I’ve done it in a way that leaves me little leeway to change my mind. I do feel somewhat guilty, admittedly, as like I said – I have been treated very well. To my current workplaces credit, they have been very understanding and have let me know that if there is anything they can do to change my mind, I should mention it. Which is always a nice thing to hear – but I will stick to my decision as I don’t believe in messing people around. In return, I have a month of probably long hours to make sure that all the things I have started are finished, or left in as perfect a condition as I can manage.

I’ll be sad to go, but ultimately, I am very excited about moving on. I won’t get to see some of the things I put in motion through to fruition, but I have a boat load of new challenges to look forward to. I suspect that while I’ll have regrets at some point, I’d regret not chasing a new challenge even more – and that was the one thing that ultimately made my decision for me.